'Bunyan and the Dissenting Tradition' - The Sixth Triennial Conference of the International John Bunyan Society, University of Keele, UK, 26-28 July 2010

• Published in: Bunyan studies no. 14; p. 128
• Main Author: Murray, Shannon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.01.2010
• Subjects: Bunyan, John (1628-1688); Bunyan, John (1628-88); Conferences; Hall, Barry; Wesley, John (1703-1791)
• ISSN: 0954-0970

The four plenary sessions took us through evangelical adaptations, a theology of violence, a post-secular reading, and a panel on teaching Bunyan. In a panel devoted to 'The Early Modern Bible', we heard Bob Owens (Open University) on sequential and nonsequential practices of scripture-reading; Jeremy Schildt (Royal Holloway) on the ways in which 'private' Bible reading was also a deeply 'social' activity, using as evidence the extensive papers of the Suffolk nonconformist minister Owen Stocton held in Dr Williams's Library, London; and Iain Taylor (Royal Holloway) on the importance of commentaries in the reading and study of the Bible in the seventeenth century, and ways in which Bunyan's ideas about the unpardonable sin may have been influence by the ideas of commentators on Hebrews. In another stimulating panel, I heard Peter Hinds (Plymouth) on the role of Roger L'Estrange in the persecution of Dissenters; Galen Johnson (John Brown) on the importance of community for Bunyan, as evidenced in Mr Badman and the second part of The Pilgrim 's Progress; and Barry Hall (Northumbria) on Bunyan's engagements with Ranters in Grace Abounding.